bug bombs

This is an update from our story last night on the bed bug treatment-related fire in Detroit. The tenant who accidentally started the fire in Detroit on Tuesday has now spoken to journalists, offering a heartbreaking apology for her actions: According to Fox 2 News, the tenant had bed bugs for a whole year, and […]

A Detroit apartment building burned for five hours in a 3-alarm fire and five people were injured due to a tenant’s attempt to treat bed bugs with a smoke bomb (which the tenant then attempted to put out with a pillow, causing the fire), according to Fox News Detroit. According to the Fox News report, […]

A fire alarm rang out in an historic apartment building in Portland, Maine on Wednesday. Firefighters rushed to the scene and the building was evacuated. Turns out there was no actual smoke — someone was just setting off a bomb for bed bugs. According to BDN Maine: Portland firefighters responded to a fire alarm and evacuated […]

Since this website was started in 2006, we’ve been told countless times that bug bombs (total release aerosol foggers) are not effective for dealing with bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) because they don’t penetrate into harborage areas. We are also told foggers and bombs may spread bed bugs, making problems worse. It is well known to […]

A story in the New York Press yesterday tells the tale of a pest tech’s daily work. He rides around in a car covered on the inside in Delta Dust: Plus, everything in Frank’s car, including us, is covered with a fine white powder. It’s called Delta Dust, and its active ingredient is the neurotoxin […]

TV on the Radio vocalist/guitarist (and solo artist) Kyp Malone talks openly to Larry Getlen in this New York Post story about how he’s aware people in his building have bed bugs. The building? “It’s pretty old. It’s on the bedbug list,” Malone says, complaining about the prewar building in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where he’s lived […]

Entomologist Mike Merchant of Texas AgriLife Extension wrote on his “Insects in the City” blog Thursday about bug bombs, and why they are not a good treatment for bed bugs. A highlighted quote in PMP magazine’s Buzz Online caught my eye today. Alex Barbarin is a graduate student at Penn State University studying bed bugs […]

Well, perhaps that’s not fair. I am sure there are loads of reasons why bed bugs are spreading around Chicago. The lack of assistance from city agencies is only one contributing factor. Jessica of Chicago vs. Bed Bugs has a disturbing post today about what happens when you call 311 to report bed bugs in […]

Total release foggers (or “bug bombs”) are dangerous and we are told they can make bed bug problems worse. And now the State of New York will only allow certified applicators to use them. Here’s the NYC DEC press release. via New York vs. Bed bugs and City Room.

HealthDay News (part of U.S. News and Word Report) reports that Between 2001 and 2006, commercial “bug bomb” insect deterrents caused 466 cases of acute pesticide-related illness or injury in eight states, U.S. researchers reported Thursday. Presumably many more cases have happened in the other 42 US states and in other countries. We have been […]

Bug bombs ( and aerosol foggers) do not get rid of bed bugs. They can make your bed bug problems worse, by spreading them deep into your walls or to your neighbors (not the intended effect in a multi-unit building). From various bed bug experts and trusted information sources, I have gathered the following suggestions: […]